[When the sirens clear, what emerges is certainly Trench but it's -- off. The streets were never lined with so many empty alcohol bottles, for one thing. Nor were there burnt rose petals scattered about the place, entirely too many to be sheer, strange, coincidence. Perhaps most eerie of all is the occasional unique weapon laying around in various states of disrepair, bearing strange symbols that have the quality of a signature about them.
If you are not properly armed yourself, though, it might be worth picking one up. Because it's not long before the Grimm appear, tar-black monsters with masks and various protrusions of bone white, accented in bloody crimson. These will attempt to charge at you, to gore you, to rip you apart from limb to limb. They're mindless, powered by sheer destructive will, and drawn to anything with a soul in general and the presence of negative emotion in particular. Most are straightforward to fight, and will crumble into ash when killed -- but some are especially dangerous. The Chill, for instance, which possesses its victims, and the Apathy, which drain your will to live. But take heart; if you are in an inescapable situation with these monsters, perhaps the light of a Silver-Eyed warrior will come to your rescue...though you will never get a good look at them before they disappear from sight.
These are far from the only threats you'll face here, though. The outer areas of Trench--Trenchwood, Feed, Ache, and Shiver--have become bandit territory. These people have one rule, and one rule only: the strong survive, the weak die. They are vicious, persistent, and will do whatever it takes to gain the upper hand in a fight, no matter how dirty or underhanded it might be. Sometimes, you might even get ambushed in the commercial districts like Willful Machine or Cellar Door. Those are places that are full of distractions, after all.
But even "safer" districts aren't necessarily safe. In Cassandra, Crenshaw, and especially Prufrock, you may suddenly find wanted posters with your face on them, as soldiers in in navy and white uniforms come after you. These ones are both easier and harder to fight; they are not as vicious as the bandits, but they have more powerful weapons, and there seems to be a never ending stream of them. If you're captured by the soldiers, you will be dragged off to the Gate to be locked away with the Beasts. It's the only way to keep Trench safe, they say.]
atmosphere/monsters
If you are not properly armed yourself, though, it might be worth picking one up. Because it's not long before the Grimm appear, tar-black monsters with masks and various protrusions of bone white, accented in bloody crimson. These will attempt to charge at you, to gore you, to rip you apart from limb to limb. They're mindless, powered by sheer destructive will, and drawn to anything with a soul in general and the presence of negative emotion in particular. Most are straightforward to fight, and will crumble into ash when killed -- but some are especially dangerous. The Chill, for instance, which possesses its victims, and the Apathy, which drain your will to live. But take heart; if you are in an inescapable situation with these monsters, perhaps the light of a Silver-Eyed warrior will come to your rescue...though you will never get a good look at them before they disappear from sight.
These are far from the only threats you'll face here, though. The outer areas of Trench--Trenchwood, Feed, Ache, and Shiver--have become bandit territory. These people have one rule, and one rule only: the strong survive, the weak die. They are vicious, persistent, and will do whatever it takes to gain the upper hand in a fight, no matter how dirty or underhanded it might be. Sometimes, you might even get ambushed in the commercial districts like Willful Machine or Cellar Door. Those are places that are full of distractions, after all.
But even "safer" districts aren't necessarily safe. In Cassandra, Crenshaw, and especially Prufrock, you may suddenly find wanted posters with your face on them, as soldiers in in navy and white uniforms come after you. These ones are both easier and harder to fight; they are not as vicious as the bandits, but they have more powerful weapons, and there seems to be a never ending stream of them. If you're captured by the soldiers, you will be dragged off to the Gate to be locked away with the Beasts. It's the only way to keep Trench safe, they say.]